Fresh Start

[Smallgrow]

I decided to just start a thread for this grow. As people may know my fall grow was not without problems, although I did get out with 12-15 ounces of bud from 2fast’s Hot Cakes so not exactly a failure.
I couldn’t get the Scarlet Grapes to grow well, I did get one little one to harvest for a taste.
At Christmas after I harvested that I was supposed to start my winter run of 2 Scarlet Grapes and 2 1:1 CBD autos , but once again I had problems in germination and after a month of sickly seedlings and one male plant I pulled the plug.
I was going to leave it at that but I couldn’t not grow, even though my timing is very late in the season and harvest and dry/cure will be more challenging as it will be late spring and much warmer.

So the goal for this grow will be to run a cycle of Photos in as short a time as possible. I have 2 Mango CBD 1:1 and a classic 2 Super Lemon Haze above ground and lookin good. I sprouted at 18/6 but now I’m going to switch to 20/4 light for veg and try to push them along. I’m going to try to FIM them (first time trying FIM) instead of topping with the idea of less stress, and then flip them as soon as possible. Hopefully keeping sprout and veg to about 4 weeks.
The Haze will have a high stretch rate so this should work well.

They were sprouted with 24 hours soak and 24 hours in paper towel then put into soil 9 days ago. I used spring water with 1 part Hydrogen Peroxide 3% to 2 parts water for the soak and PT. They are in ProMix organic seed starter mix in the bud cups and will go into my 7 gallon grow bags with my recycled super soil when they are ready.
Tent is running at 77F and 75 % RH

[Bowhunterwoody]

Man I had the exact same problem starting my winter run. Tiny, sickly sprouts just sitting there. I left one and its flowering now at four weeks and is 4" tall. Looks perfectly healthy but miniature. Your's look like a nice healthy start.

[Gator]

Seems like we're all having issues with germinated this year lol,I hear you guys!!!

[Smallgrow]

It’s not usually a spot I have problems. Historically my germination rates have been above 80% I lost track of how many seed I tried on those runs but it definitely trashed my average.
Im not really against autos but I will say they were all autoflower genetics. They do tend to be more sensitive to hot soil , so I think that may have been part of my problem in this case.
anyhoooo back to photos for a while, I like the control anyway.

[MeowMeow]

Your seedlings look great!

For years I did germination in paper towels with heating mat > germinated seeds into a rapid rooter > in a cup of soil > into the 5-gallon pot. I feel like that gets about 85-90% germination, which I feel is pretty good. I've had some lucky runs with 100%, but usually I lose a few. I think the seed vendor matters, too.

But lately, I've had just as good results soaking seeds for 12-24 hours, then putting them straight in the pot under the grow light. I think that's closer to nature. I'm still getting around good germination, and it's certainly a lot less work and fussing.

The main problem I've had with putting seeds right in a 5 gallon pot is it's easy to overwater them, and at that point it takes forever for the soil to dry out and the seedlings grow slow for the first few weeks. Now I follow a seedling watering schedule made for a 5-gallon pot, which helps keep me from going overboard with water. I keep the soil damp until the sprout comes up, then start day 1 once the leaves open.

One thing I've noticed is that when I give plants a few extra weeks in the vegetative stage to get to half the final desired size, I end up with WAY more weed than flipping them early. Because small plants can't grow much weed, they just don't have enough branches, or long enough branches, for a ton of weed nuggets to grow.

I grew a Super Lemon Haze years ago and it came out great. Stretchy like you said.

[golfnrl]

Germination is one area I need to improve. I soak seeds 24-36 hours, then into a Bud Cup with the coco/perlite blend they will grow in. I recently read that when a seed sinks it has enough moisture to germinate. I'm going to try that the next time I germinate. After the soak I put the seeds under a t5 light with an opaque cover to promote heat and humidity. I found that spritzing the grow medium is far easier than trying to use a syringe to water the coco until the seed pops. One problem with this method is how far down into the grow medium to place the seed. I am prone to plant too shallow with helmet heads as a result. I can vouch for what happens when the cotyledon leaves don't open. I grow in coco/perlite so watering in a sprout into a 5 gallon pot is easy after the transplant. Another problem with this method, and maybe with any germination method, is the chance of a seed not sprouting when trying to sprout multiple seeds at once. Because of the system I use that can throw the timing off for feeding from a rez. It's a PITA.

[MeowMeow]

golfnrl One thing I've found is that seedlings seem to germinate and grow better without a cover. Our humidity is around 50% RH, for reference, so it's not particularly humid or dry. But I used to put seedlings in domes, but now I just let them have the open air and they actually seem to grow better. I wonder if maybe it helps them pull up more water from their roots when their leaves are transpiring more.

I also struggle with bucket heads. I feel like it's got to partly be a genetic thing. I used to use my fingers but I pulled multiple ones up, and I think that kills their roots because those ones always do poorly lol I got those pointy tweezers, stick them inside the crack, and let them open to pry the shell off. But I've had it rip a cotyledon leaf that way. And so I'll leave it and try again in a day if it still seems stuck.

It's like there's a membrane inside the seed, and with some seeds, it's almost like it gets fused to the leaves or something.

I've heard it's because they breed strains for buds and plant growth, not germination. I wonder if some breeders are really great at germinating, so their seeds always germinate for them, and they don't realize the average grower is going to struggle.

Yeah as far as sprouting multiple seeds, I know what you mean. Like if I put them all in 5-gallon pots but two don't sprout, I now have two extra pots with soil. And soil gets expensive fast! That is the cool thing about sprouted the seeds separate. I bet in hydro it's even more crucial to get all the timing right.

[Smallgrow]

I haven’t been very good about posting this grow, mostly cause it hasn’t gone smoothly but I’ll try to fill some gaps in the story and continue on till the end. I’ll do it in a few separate post to break it up a bit. My goals of pushing the cycle time as much as possible to avoid a summer harvest and heat issues is a distant memory, I will have to try to deal with that when it comes.

picking up after my last pictures…..
I over watered the seedlings in the bud cups and they really struggled. I don’t think I took any pics of them at their worst. In desperation I moved them to their final pots, which in hindsight was also a bad move as those containers as they were really too big. I was however able to start nursing them back to health but it cost me about a month.

You can see the yellow leaves at the bottom of the plants left from their seedling struggles. This pic is from March 13th

[Smallgrow]

A week later here they were.
The oversized pots sill made watering a challenge, nevertheless one of the Mango CBD plants had settled in and was starting to take off well ahead of the others.
Originally I was planning to try to FIM instead of top the plants. I had never tried it before or frankly believed in the technique. Supposedly it’s less stress than topping and can result in 3 tops. I tried it on the big plant in an attempt to hold it back so the other could catch up. Spoiler alert, it didn’t work for me.

[Smallgrow]

About 2 more weeks has gone by this is March 27th
I missed a week of photos but you can still see the misshapen leaves from the FIM attempt a node or two below the top of the Mango CBD. That plant didn’t seem to mind however and was still roaring ahead

[Smallgrow]

This is how I felt about this grow to this point , but we were turning a corner I think

[Smallgrow]

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve topped the big girl at this point in an attempt to let the others catch up, at least two more times. I also realized that she would be responsible for filling the majority of the tent around the other smaller plants. I started LST especially focused on spreading out the big girl. I managed to over-stress one of the Super Lemon Haze plants with a bud clip and it broke. Its still hanging on mind you. Always amazing how they can recover , it was 90% broken just a thread hanging on.

[Bowhunterwoody]

Nice save! They look nice and healthy.

[Smallgrow]

Thank you!
Im happy I could get them back into reasonable shape for the flip. I wasn’t going to give up 😎
The Mango CBD is my favourite, and I’m running out in the weed vault.
….and Super Lemon Haze, come on who doesn’t want that, lol

[Smallgrow]

This was last Tuesday April 7th about 10 days later.
I’m pretty happy with the flat canopy of the big Mango , that’s how they should have all been. She is responsible for all the bud sites on the right side of the tent except the one at the bottom , that’s her little sister.
I’ve been prepping for the flip with a top dress of nutes and worm castings about a week ago. I’ve been light on defol, I’m a leave the leaves grower as I grow in “living soil” but also because they were struggling and I didn’t want to take away any buffer.
Interestingly all this struggle has resulted in very short plants which is usually a struggle for me as I typically grow “sativa” varieties with high stretch rates, we’ll see how that plays out.

Stay tuned …